Your search
Results 7 resources
-
The sewn-plank ships that sailed the Indian Ocean during the medieval Islamic period carried people, goods, and ideas between East Africa, Arabia, India, and China. Despite their key role, we know relatively little about them. To date, archaeological work related to sewn boats in the region has been limited, while the few textual references generally lack crucial details regarding their design, structure, and operation. Due to the paucity of archaeological evidence until 20 years ago, the study of medieval shipbuilding in the region has often been flawed by Orientalism and fuelled by principles of the Enlightenment in early studies. Scholars had previously approached this topic through a European lens, typically with a strong colonialist attitude, and viewed this technology as basic, primitive, and incapable of developing without an external force, such as the more technologically advanced Europe. This book presents the first comprehensive study on medieval sewn boats of the Indian Ocean, using new and original data. It provides a technical analysis of the ship timbers recently discovered at al-Balid and Qalhat, Oman, in a comparative context. Pieces are examined from a material perspective, and then compared with textual, iconographic, ethnographic, archaeological, and experimental archaeological evidence. It contextualizes the ship timbers within the broader material networks in the Indian Ocean during the medieval Islamic period, thereby increasing our knowledge of maritime communities and their shipbuilding technology.
-
The importance of the medieval city of al-Balīd and its harbour was mentioned in many different sources, and mirrored by a large number of finds and pottery that confirm a primary role of the port as a pivotal hub in Indian Ocean trade during the pre-modern Islamic period (tenth–fifteenth century AD). This paper will examine maritime activities at al-Balīd from a different perspective, combining recent data from the study of ship timbers discovered at the site with the archaeological record, along with evidence of possible harbour facilities. The study of the ship timbers has provided invaluable information about the technology, size, material, type, and function of the watercraft involved in the trade at al-Balīd. The reuse of these timbers in a terrestrial context also alludes to a variety of activities carried out at the site, such as boatbuilding, maintenance, repair, and salvaging. Collectively, this data yields useful insights into the relationship between the different vessels operating at al-Balīd and the structure of the site itself, mainly in connection with one of the most lucrative commercial activities at the port city — the trade of Arabian horses.
-
The Jewel of Muscat Project focused on the reconstruction, based on an early ninth-century shipwreck, of a sewn-plank ship excavated in 1998-1999 off Belitung Island, Indonesia. Analysis of the surviving structure indicated that the ship was originally from the western Indian Ocean, and probably the Arabian Peninsula. The project comprehensively documented the research and construction of this vessel in Oman, and the sailing to Singapore. This paper addresses the technical aspects involved with building the 18 m vessel from the inevitably incomplete excavated remains, and compares the archaeological evidence with the modern reconstruction. It examines the methodological issues involved with creating a conceptual bridge between the fields of archaeology and ethnographic boatbuilding. The paper also provides an overview of the navigation and sailing performance of the vessel, documented by modern instruments. The project deepened our understanding of Early Islamic maritime technology and seafaring, while simultaneously documenting the ancient shipbuilding and navigation traditions of the Arabian Peninsula, which are rapidly becoming extinct.
-
This article looks at a specific southern Arabian sailing vessel named the Wolf (al-Dhi’b), in order to better understand the life of a coastal trader on the southern Arabian coast that lived in the last days of commercial sail. Vessels such as the Wolf carried local products such as sardines, abalone and frankincense to northern Oman and Yemen, returning with dates and necessary foodstuffs shipped to Aden from India and East Africa. The article examines the remains of the Wolf, based on data from multiple documentation surveys, in conjunction with information gained from oral history interviews in order to highlight the central role that vessels such as the Wolf played in the maritime economic and social networks of the region.
-
This interdisciplinary paper explores the potential of the maritime cultural landscape approach to a recent preliminary study of the island of Masirah in south-eastern Oman. Masirah Island is known for its extended occupation and rich archaeological record and in particular for its intensive use of marine resources from the Neolithic period up to the modern day. The Maritime Footprints project sets out to explore this dynamic maritime cultural landscape through a variety of methodologies. It employs a range of terrestrial and maritime archaeological survey techniques and approaches, mapping selected sites, their geographical context, and associated coastal features; it undertakes maritime ethnographic inquiry, studying the traditional boats, their use and change over time; it records oral traditions and explores memory and practice relating to the sea and maritime activities. Three case studies are identified to explore the changing maritime cultural landscape of the island from prehistory to the modern day in order to reveal a more nuanced appreciation of maritime activity, seafaring, and changing use of the marine resource over time and between the island's two geographically distinct coastlines. Essentially, this project aims to identify the maritime character of Masriah Island noting continuity and change over time and space.
Explore
Topic
Resource type
- Book (1)
- Journal Article (6)